Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Flowers still flying blind as Manning’s left tackle
EAST RUTHERFORD » The Giants’ 13 points are the franchise’s fewest through the first two games of a season in 70 years, so yes, there are widespread offensive problems in the Meadowlands.
In Monday night’s 24-10 loss to the Lions, Eli Manning threw an inexplicable interception in the second quarter. A wide-open Brandon Marshall dropped a deep ball in the fourth quarter. Shane Vereen ran a route short of the firstdown marker on a fourthdown catch.
“We’ve got to score more,” Manning said. “Not going in the right direction enough, going backwards, not converting on third downs enough. Got down there close on the 1-yard line (in the third quarter) and get a penalty and then get a delay of game at the end. So, just not executing well enough on third downs in the green zone in some critical moments.”
But left tackle Ereck Flowers continues to be arguably the most debilitating piece of the unit for some time now. The Giants have stuck with their 2015 first-round pick through thick and thin, but time for patience may be running out.
Flowers has had a brutal start to his third season and was mostly non-competitive matched up with Lions defensive end Ezekiel Ansah, yielding three of Detroit’s five sacks of Manning as well as a quarterback hurry.
Asked at what point the Giants consider making a change at left tackle, head coach Ben McAdoo insisted, “It’s more than one player.”
McAdoo did acknowledge that Flowers’ struggles Monday were enough to cause the Giants to try providing blocking help on the edge as the game went along, but little seemed to work as New York went three-and-out four times and was 4-of12 on third down. Manning’s blind side of the pocket was constantly in jeopardy.
“When they’re playing Cover 2 and you give help to both sides (on the edge), you have three guys running routes and you have seven in coverage, that makes it a challenge,” McAdoo said.
Per Pro Football Focus, Flowers entered the season having surrendered 17 more quarterback pressures than any other offensive tackle over the past two years. And in the Giants’ last seven games dating back to 2016, he’s allowed seven sacks, or as many as the rest of the offensive linemen combined.
The problem for the Giants is the viability of alternatives is questionable. They consider D.J. Fluker exclusively a guard, and backup tackle Chad Wheeler is an undrafted rookie whom the team hasn’t shown the confidence to even insert into a game yet. So the bench depth simply isn’t there.
Left guard Justin Pugh could be an option, but only if the Giants get healthy at right tackle. New York was forced to play musical chairs on the offensive line when Bobby Hart reaggravated his ankle two plays in and did not return. Pugh, the Giants’ best lineman, replaced Hart, and Brett Jones came off the bench to replace Pugh at left guard.
“It’s five guys. We can help him out,” Pugh said in defense of Flowers during an impassioned postgame remark. “We can do a better job. We can run the ball better. When it comes to offensive line plays, it’s all five of us. It’s not one person. So if you are going to come and bash us, don’t bash one guy.”
It’s a familiar refrain for an offensive line which returned five starters in training camp and touted its continuity. But its most gaping hole continues to show, and with powerful pass rushes from Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver soon on tap, this may be only the beginning.